The present invention relates to enzymes, particularly to thermostable enzymes. More particularly, the present invention relates to thermostable enzymes which are stable at high temperature and which have improved activity at lower temperatures.
Thermostable enzymes are enzymes that function at greater than 60xc2x0 C. Thermostable enzymes are utilized in both industry and biomedical research in assays where certain steps of the assay are performed at significantly increased temperatures. Thermostable enzymes may be obtained from thermophilic organisms found in hot springs, volcanic origin, tropical areas etc. Examples of such organisms, for instance, include prokaryotic microorganisms, such as eubacteria and archaebacteria (Bronneomerier, K. and Staudenbauer, W. L., D. R. Woods (ed), the Clostridia and Biotechnology, Butterworth Publishers, Stoneham, M. A. (1993), among other organisms.
Thermostable enzymes exhibit greater storage life capacity and organic solvent resistance, as compared to their mesophilic counterparts.
There are applications in industry and in research for thermostable enzymes which exhibit enzyme activity at a desired minimum temperature. An example of this occurs in molecular diagnostics wherein reporter molecules must survive long term storage at room temperature or higher or they need to function in unusual environments, and the assays which employ them are performed at room temperature where the activity of thermostable enzymes is generally very low.